INTRODUCTION:
Many of you know that Linda and I are from Missouri. Although we served the Lord in Kansas for the past six years, we are from Missouri. Moreover, Nathan was born in Missouri, 200 yards from the state line, but still in Missouri. Noah was born in Kansas, but we won't dwell on that. We're proud of our Missouri heritage. Missouri is known as the Show-Me State. Why, you might ask? The tag may have stuck in 1899 when Congressman Willard Duncan Vandiver stated, "I'm from Missouri and you've got to show me." Or when Fred Vanderpool wrote the 1902 song, I'm from Missouri and you gotter show me. In other words, being a Missourian implies that you are so stubborn that you have to see something in order to believe it. Physical proof is the best proof, and a prerequisite to affirmation.
Today, in faith matters, proof is important, especially to those of us who
doubt. We must see to believe. When we can't, we rely on eyewitnesses. I John is a letter written to Christians in a land then called Asia, what we know today as eastern Turkey. John writes this letter of encouragement after many had left the ranks for a different teaching. This teaching is called in theological circles, Docetism. The term comes from the Greek verb dokeo which means, to seem. The false doctrine held that Christ only seemed to come in human form. Such teaching denied the incarnation, the foundation for faith. The Docetists taught that Jesus only seemed to die. Although it sounds heinous to some of us, it was actually believable to those separated from the death of Christ by a generation. After some had left the ranks, there were those in the church who said, what now? John writes to shore up their faith and refute the false doctrine. We study the book to shore up our faith, as well. Moreover, you will find reoccurring basic Christian lessons like renouncing sin, love for God and love for neighbor. Hence, I John is foundational teaching in being a Christian. We come to our passage with the question, How do I know that Jesus truly came? Without further delay, let us understand that our faith is built on the foundations of Seeing and Believing. Let us first discover that.

I. JOHN SAW CHRIST.
In other words, John was an eyewitness to the incarnation. He saw
Jesus Christ. He tells us in verse one of our text, That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked at and our hands have touched-- this we proclaim concerning the Word of life. The life appeared; we have seen it and testify to it, and we proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and has appeared to us. John tells us that he not only heard, but he saw, he beheld, and he touched the Word of life, Jesus Christ. As I mentioned before one of the characteristics of the cult that drew many of church members away was a denial that Christ came in the flesh. The new teaching could not accept that the Son of God actually came into the world. For them, it was a fairy tale. But John functions as an eyewitness to discount their lies. Certainly the use of eyewitnesses is an important proof of evidence. In any criminal or civil case, eyewitnesses are used to prove the case of the prosecution or the defense. Many of us heard Colon Powell on Wednesday offering new evidence to the United Nations of why Iraq is not disarming. This evidence included satellite photographs and statements from defectors that coincided. The use of eyewitnesses is employed to prove a case, a point.
John employs the same means to prove the dissenters are wrong. The apostle would put it another way in his gospel, John 1:14. The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth. No one loved Jesus more than John the apostle. He is many times referred to as John the Beloved. He was one of the sons of Thunder, who walked closely with the Lord. John was the one who at the Passover meal who leaned back against Jesus and asked him, "Lord, who is it (that betrays you) John 13:25?" This same one would see his Lord die on a cross and rise again from the dead. It is compelling, too, that all the disciples except John gave their lives for Christ. We call it the testimony of the martyrs. They could not deny the truth that was revealed to them. John would pay a great, albeit lesser sacrifice by being exiled to the island of Patmos, left to suffer extreme hardship for the sake of the gospel. Have you ever known men to suffer or die for fairy tales? NEVER! That leads us to our second point. Since John saw Jesus, we..

II. WE MUST BELIEVE CHRIST.
Verse three states, We proclaim to you what we have seen and heard, so that you also may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ. We write this to make our joy complete. What kind of fellowship is John referring to here? Is it the fellowship we have when we get together for the pork supper or potluck? Not exactly. The word for fellowship here is the Greek term koinonia, which denotes, fellowship, a close mutual relationship; participation, sharing in; partnership. Here, the context denotes an affiliation. What John says is quite plain. There are no murky waters here. He does not dance around the subject. Later on in chapter two, he would use even stronger prose. If one says he's a Christian, then he must affirm that Jesus came in bodily form, died, and arose again. Oh, sure, you may struggle with doubt from time to time. Thomas, one of the twelve doubted the resurrection until he saw for himself. We call him Doubting Thomas to this day. But his doubts were satisfied in the upper room. We are told in John 20:26 A week later his disciples were in the house again, and Thomas was with them. Though the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, "Peace be with you!" 27 Then he said to Thomas, "Put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe." 28 Thomas said to him, "My Lord and my God!" 29 Then Jesus told him, "Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed."
Friends, we are the blessed ones who have not seen and yet believe! And if we are blessed with such faith, then our joy will be made full. The clause denotes purpose, hence the use of the phrase in some translations in order that your joy may be made full. When the reality of Jesus Christ comes into your life, you are changed. The things that used to make you happy, no longer do. And those things you once detested, bring you immense joy. Christians ought to be the people with the most joy, especially in the face of adversity. This is much more than emotional elation. It affects the way you live and the way you die. Such joy was possessed by the church father Polycarp. He was one of those who did not see, yet he believed. He was thought to have been a disciple of John the Beloved. He would have never been given the opportunity to see the risen Christ, yet he knew that John was an eyewitness. God used John's witness to change Polycarp from a pagan to the honorable Bishop of Smyrna. The account of the end of his life comes to us from Foxe's Book of Martyrs. Under Marcus Aurelius' persecution, often called the fourth persecution in the latter part of the second century, we are told of many atrocities suffered by Christians. Some of the martyrs were obliged to pass, with their already wounded feet, over thorns, nails, sharp shells, etc. upon their points, others were scourged until their sinews and veins lay bare, and after suffering the most excruciating tortures that could be devised, they were destroyed by the most terrible deaths. Polycarp, the venerable bishop of Smyrna, hearing that persons were seeking for him, escaped, but was discovered by a child. He was, carried before the proconsul, condemned, and sentenced to be burned in the market place.
The proconsul then urged him, saying, "Swear, and I will release thee;-reproach Christ."
Polycarp answered, "Eighty and six years have I served him, and he never once wronged me; how then shall I blaspheme my King, Who hath saved me?" Scripture's witness, Polycarp's witness, and the witness of countless others, tell us that Jesus, God in the flesh, came to live, to die and be raised from the dead. And all who see their need for Him, repent of their sins and trust in Him, will never be ashamed. Being separated by 2,000 years means that salvation for you and me is a matter of trust, that John saw Christ. Paul along with more than 500 others saw Christ. Therefore, I must believe Christ. Only He can give me life's truest joy.

CONCLUSION
I find it odd today that the lines of demarcation for a Christian have become so blurred. Today, in some arenas, being a believer in Jesus Christ is a wide gate and accompanies any and every whim of doctrine. But here, John says it is narrow. In fact, according to the apostle, the defining quality is embracing that Jesus Christ came in the flesh. Hence, we read the strong words in 1 John 2:22, Who is the liar? It is the man who denies that Jesus is the Christ. Such a man is the antichrist-- he denies the Father and the Son. No one who denies the Son has the Father; whoever acknowledges the Son has the Father also. As Christians, we need not apologize for what the Scriptures teach. Rather, we need to embrace them, for they guide our faith and the faiths of those who have gone before us. Such was the case for a man named Max Federmann. Federmann's misfortune was to have been a Jewish child in Hitler's Germany. He recalls the terror of the November night in 1938 when Nazi storm troopers marched through his village, destroying everything Jewish. He remembers his father and older brother being carried off to a concentration camp. His mother, too, was taken away to Auschwitz, where she perished. Max himself, 16, escaped to Yugoslavia, then to Italy.
After the war, Max married an Italian girl named Leda, and they had a daughter. After immigrating to California, two sons were added to the family. But tragedy struck again. The older son died in a car wreck, and this time Max lashed out at God: "How could you be a good God and bring such pain to me!"
Shortly afterward, Bernard, 14, was invited to church camp, and to Max's shock, he returned home believing in Jesus. Leda visited the church, and she, too, became a Christian.
At first, Max felt angry and rejected; but he decided to investigate their new faith in the light of his Hebrew Bible, studying what the Scriptures said about the Messiah. He also began reading the New Testament. He was stunned by how the prophecies in his Hebrew Bible seemed perfectly fulfilled by Jesus of Nazareth. He continued reading the New Testament, and I fell to my knees when I came to 1 John 2:23 and understood the truth: "Whoever denies the Son does not have the Father either; he who acknowledges the Son has the Father also."
I cried to God for forgiveness, and suddenly my heart was flooded with love for the Father and His Son, Jesus, the Messiah. My search had taken me almost a year. But from the moment I fell to my knees, I was able to love Jesus, my Messiah, with all my heart and mind and soul. I was even able to love those who had so cruelly persecuted my people. At last I understood the meaning of "Shalom!"

Scripture: I Corinthians 6:18-20
Sermon: The Gibbering Ape
Date: January 19, 2003
Speaker: Rev. David W. McKinley

INTRODUCTION
As many of you know, January's sermon emphasis has been on Family Living. I have so enjoyed the messages on marriage by Rev. Karen and Divorce by Dr. Drake. But now comes that message on the awkward yet pertinent subject of premarital and extramarital sex. It is to our health that we approach with seriousness today. I begin our time today by quoting author and theologian Frederick Buechner that wrote Lust is the ape that gibbers in our loins. Tame him as we will by day, he rages all the wilder in our dreams by night. Just when we think we're safe from him, he raises up his ugly head and smirks, and there's no river in the world flows cold and strong enough to strike him down (Anatomy of Lust, 31). Although Buechner's comment deals with lust, I use it to bridge us to the root of all sexual activity, that of our sexual appetites. All of us are sexual beings, with sexual appetites, if we are between the ages of 13 and 103. But not all of us satisfy it in the healthiest way. What are the parameters for such things?
Sex. It is all around us. From billboards to television commercials, from talk shows to magazines, from movies to every form of communication, sexuality is portrayed to us. But have we ever stopped to wonder if all the messages we are receiving about this subject agree with what God has said on the topic? It is a good question to ask. Let's just see how prolific the message of sex is in our culture. In a 1997 article of the Kansas City Star, Jennifer, a sophomore at an area high school advocated that sex education be taught at the elementary-school level. When asked why, she replied, By the time the parents are ready to sit them down and talk to them (about sex), they already know everything. The same article noted that nearly 70% of our young people across the country are having sex before they reach the 12th grade. What a shame! Our young people are giving the most sacred part of their lives to those who will in no way be their partners for life! Could it be that they're hearing the wrong message concerning this issue?
What I have to say this morning affects most people here. Maybe you are a teenager. You find yourself in a new world of hormones that you're not sure how to control. Maybe you are single and are well too familiar with your sexual appetite. Maybe you are part of a marriage and you are being tempted to step outside the boundaries God has given you. Does God have instruction for you today? Yes He does. For this, we turn to Paul's first letter to the church at Corinth.

I. GOD INSTRUCTS US TO FLEE ALL SEXUAL TEMPTATION.
Notices that verse 18 is given in the form of a command. The Greek verb is the
imperative form of feugo which means to flee, run away; escape; shun, avoid, turn from. Please not that this is not a suggestion. Paul does not teach us to dabble fornication. He doesn't encourage us to entertain thoughts of immorality. Rather, he commands us to flee it! There is the sense that Paul is warning us of something that is dangerous to our spiritual health, as Christians. If you were walking along in the jungle and you happened upon a mother tiger and her cubs, would you sit around and ponder them? Would you study their movements? Maybe even stick your hand in their den and pet them? No! Rather, you would move as fast as you could to safety for fear of being eaten alive! This is the idea that the apostle gives us in verse 18. It's as if he is teaching us, When you come to this sort of situation, run from it! Simply put, sexual sin is not something that we can afford to be involved in. Paul tells us in Ephesians 5:3 But among you there must not be even a hint of sexual immorality, or of any kind of impurity, or of greed, because these are improper for God's holy people. It is harmful to our witness and to our spiritual vitality.
The term for sexual sin used in our passage is porneia. It generally speaks of every kind of extramarital, unlawful, or unnatural sexual intercourse fornication, sexual immorality, and prostitution (Friberg Greek Lexicon). For instance, it is used in 1 Corinthians 5:1 which reads, It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you, and of a kind that does not occur even among pagans: A man has his father's wife. Evidently, sexual sin was apparent in the church at Corinth. For this reason, the apostle Paul was grieved not just by its presence but also by its acceptance at the church in Corinth! Although some of you may not be practicing porneia, you are subtly accepting it as a normal way of life. This is not right. Porneia is also distinguished from adultery (moikeia) in the same context such as in Matthew 15:19 in which Jesus said, For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander. In our passage, sexual sin, in all of its varied forms, can only be dealt with in one way: fleeing it! Paul Marsh rightly comments, Some things are too powerful to be opposed and safety comes only in flight (New Testament Commentary, 386-87).
Sexual temptation presents itself in all kinds of ways. Maybe for you, young person, it is the date on Friday night whose parents are gone and you have the home to yourself. Maybe for you, single adult, it's the friend you've been seeing the past few months and affection is growing stronger. Maybe for you, married man, it is the flirtatious secretary or co-worker at the office. Or it could be something more private, as the newsstand, the Internet or the Pay-Per-View movie. Whatever the circumstance, Paul tells us not to fool around with a step-by-step plan to master sexual temptation. God's plan involves only one step. He says, run from it!
Unfortunately, that which is poisonous to our spiritual health is often times presented in such a harmless way. Someone once said, For some people, right and wrong is only measured in terms as to what's good for them.. If all we gage our sense of morality on is personal benefit, then we might argue anything from murder to molestation. That is probably what is so destructive about premarital and extra-marital sex, is that from a subjective standpoint, it seems to satisfy an immediate need. But rather, it is self-destructive. It is addictive in nature. Once its hook snags a person, it is hard to walk away from it. Once a person opens the door for sexual sin, it is hard to turn away from it. This is another way in which sexual sin destroys those who practice it. Drake told us last week how fornication damages a marriage, sometimes beyond repair. This is only one reason why God lovingly instructs us to flee all sexual temptation. Secondly.

II. BEING A CHRISTIAN IMPLIES FLEEING FROM ALL SEXUAL TEMPTATION.
Once again, Paul tells us Flee from sexual immorality. All other sins a man commits are outside his body, but he who sins sexually sins against his own body. 19 Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your body. One of the great truths of the Christian faith is that the believer's soul and body belongs to God. Question one from the Heidelberg Catechism, which we are presently teaching our young people, asks, What is your only comfort, in life and in death? Its answer: That I belong- body and soul, in life and in death -not to myself but to my faithful Savior, Jesus Christ, who at the cost of his own blood has fully paid for all my sins and has completely freed me from the dominion of the devil.. 1 Peter 1:18 tells us, For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your forefathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect. But if we belong to God, we live in submission to the Holy Spirit and yield to God's authority. We are not our own. We belong to Christ, who gave Himself for us. Frances R Havergal wrote Who Is On the Lord's Side. The second stanza goes, Jesus, Thou has bought us, Not with gold or gem, but with Thine own life-blood, for Thy diadem; whose side are you on this morning? You may say the Lord's! Then, Friend, will you commit to His way, His intentions for your sex life?
This has specific application to our sexual appetites. We do not have permission to wheel and deal our sexual lives in whatever way pleases our desires. Our body is the Spirit's residence. He lives in us. And if He lives within us, then we must possess our sexual desires with self-control. Paul tells us in 1 Thessalonians 4:3, It is God's will that you should be sanctified: that you should avoid sexual immorality; that each of you should learn to control his own body in a way that is holy and honorable, not in passionate lust like the heathen, who do not know God. . I heard a person once defend the use of pornography by saying, There is nothing wrong with Playboy, or Playgirl for that matter. The human body is beautiful and God made it. What this individual failed to realize is that such periodicals reduce women and men to manipulated things instead of people, and diminishes the healthy sense of shame that our culture so desperately needs to recover. If you live without sexual self-control, you only proclaim with your actions that you belong to someone else, which in this case, is the author of all immoral activity, the devil.

CONCLUSION
I ask you today to take inventory of your life. Ask yourself, am I living in sexual purity? If not, today, would you turn from such activity and trust Christ to enable you to? We as pastors realize that there are probably some of you here who have made sexual mistakes in your past. My intention is not to remind you of past sins- unless you still need to repent of them. My intention rather, is to clearly point out to you that God is vitally interested in our sexual purity; that we keep our sexual activity confined within the walls of marriage. There is a major lie today in our world that says it is okay to have sex with whomever you want, just as long as you are monogamous. But I will tell you that there will be people in hell, spending an eternity without God, who have had only one sexual partner. God's law requires that sexual relations be between a husband and a wife, period. This is not easy in a world that encourages sex with whomever you wish, regardless of obligation. But I am here to say that such an attitude causes God to burn with anger, for it is a violation of His moral law. Hebrews 13:4 tells us, Marriage should be honored by all, and the marriage bed kept pure, for God will judge the adulterer and all the sexually immoral. May God give us grace in this area.